REVIEW ARTICLE J Adv Biotechnol Exp Ther. 2020; 3(2): 92-101 eISSN: 2616-4760, https://doi.org/10.5455/jabet.2020.d112 Published by www.bsmiab.org Towards the antimicrobial, therapeutic and invasive properties of Mikania micrantha Knuth: a brief overview Md Moinuddin Sheam1, Zahurul Haque1, Zulkar Nain1* 1Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Islamic University, Kushtia-7003, Bangladesh *Correspondence: Zulkar Nain, Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Islamic University, Kushtia-7003, Bangladesh; Email: [email protected]; Tel.: +880 1710 849539 Academic Editor: Dr. Hasan-Al-Faruque, Daegu Gyeonbuk Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea. Received: 21 December 2019; Accepted: 03 February 2020; Published: 01 May 2020. ABSTRACT: Plant-derivatives impose a huge momentum in the field of medical science lately due to their wide-spectrum therapeutic attributes. Owing to the emerging drug resistance and hazardous side- effect of synthetic drugs, phytochemicals are now coming into play as a source of new and effective therapeutics. Mikania micrantha is a medicinal plant commonly found in tropical Asian countries including Bangladesh. The pharmacological significances of this plant were reported earlier which include a diverse range of antimicrobial and therapeutic potencies. However, the rapid-growing nature and covering surrounding flora reckoned M. micrantha as one of the world’s most invasive weeds. Therefore, it is essential to understand if the therapeutic essence of M. micrantha outweighs its invasiveness. In this brief review, we tried to explore the biological activities of M. micrantha. The future perspectives regarding the management of its invasiveness were also highlighted in this limited scope. KEYWORDS: Antimicrobial, Invasive species, Medicinal plants, Mikania micrantha, Phytochemicals. INTRODUCTION biological potencies. Due to its fast-growing nature and invading surrounding flora, however, M. micrantha has Mikania micrantha Knuth is a fast-growing tropical been recorded as one of the 100 worst invasive alien herb, also known as mile-a-minute or bitter vine, which species in the world [8], and the second most serious belongs to the Asteraceae family [1]. It is native to the weed in South Pacific regions [9]. tropical zones of Central and South America but is now widely distributed in Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, Natural products have played an important role in the South China, etc. [1,2]. Traditionally, it has been used as discovery of drugs and therapeutics. Phytochemicals are folk medicine in many areas around the world. For small molecules with diverse chemical profiles and more example, a poultice made from the leaves of M. “drug-like” than synthetic compounds, hence, they are micrantha is used to treat venomous biting of insects considered as good candidates for the development of [3,4] and the leaf juice is used to reduce skin rashes and drug leads [10]. In recent decades, the genus Mikania itches [5]. In Jamaica, its most popular uses are for under the Asteraceae family has been extensively wound dressings and promote the healing of sores as studied due to their diverse chemical compositions folk medicine [6]. Furthermore, it is used to mitigate [11,12]. For instance, M. micrantha has been reported to stomach ache, jaundice, fever, rheumatism, cold, and contain several classes of bioactive chemical substances, respiratory diseases [4]. Modern pharmacological i.e., terpenoids (sesquiterpene lactones and diterpenes), studies provide scientific evidence that bitter vine polyphenols and flavonoids [12]. Likewise, the presence possesses outstanding therapeutic potencies, i.e., of various terpene-derivatives, especially mikanolide antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, anticancer, and miscandenin, is responsible for the antibacterial and antidiabetic, antioxidant, and wound healing activities analgesic activities of the plant [13,14]. The recent [4,7]. Therefore, M. micrantha has gained the attention emergence of multidrug-resistance in pathogenic of natural product chemists because of its numerous bacteria poses a new threat to our current therapeutic www.bsmiab.org/jabet Sheam et al., J Adv Biotechnol Exp Ther. 2020; 3(2): 92-101 92 advances, thereby, pressing urges to find new pressing need to find an alternative therapeutics. Plant- antimicrobial agents [15]. derived phytochemicals could be useful in such scenarios because of their antimicrobial potencies, non- An adequate amount of research has been done on the toxic nature, and bioavailability [5]. Plants belong to biological properties of M. micrantha while a few Mikania genus have been reported to possess review works were conducted either on its medicinal or antibacterial activity against a large number of bacteria invasive activities. To the best of our knowledge, [12]. however, no article encompasses both sides of this plant with prospective control management. In this review, In a study, methanolic extract (at a concentration of 200 therefore, we aimed to explore and summarize both mg/ml) of the M. micrantha was able to potentially therapeutic and invasive attributes of M. micrantha inhibit the growth of six bacterial strains where plant. Figure 1 shows the major biological attributes antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus was reported previously. The biological activities and their equivalent to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin [19]. Also, leaf mechanism of actions were reviewed based on the and flower extracts showed moderate inhibitory activity existing pieces of literature. against the growth of B. cereus, Escherichia coli, Shigella sonnii and Streptococcus pyogenes [13,14,20]. Furthermore, various extracts of M. micrantha containing tannins, flavonoids and polyphenols exhibited potential antibacterial activities against multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria i.e., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhii, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis, E. coli, and Streptococcus pneumoniae [13,21,22]. This is plausible because polyphenols have toxicity towards microbial enzyme while structural features of flavonoids may help to gain entry into the bacterial cell which eventually leads to multiple component inactivation [23-24]. Likewise, sesquiterpene lactones (SLs) from different plants provides antimicrobial activity against a wide range of microorganisms including bacteria, virus, and fungi [25]. For instance, M. micrantha derived sesquiterpene lactones showed significant inhibitory activity against S. aureus, B. subtilis, Micrococcus luteus, B. cereus, Ralstonia solanacearum, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria, and X. campestris pv. citri [5]. Therefore, M. micrantha Figure 1. Pharmacological significances of Mikania represents a potential source of novel antibacterial micrantha plant. The central M. micrantha photograph was phytochemicals that needs further investigation in vivo. collected from National Inventory of Natural Heritage A summary of the antibacterial activity by different database (Captured by Cesar Delnatte). parts of M. micrantha is provided in Table 1. ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES Antifungal attributes Antibacterial properties Approximately a billion people around the world have Antibiotics have been using since 1940s to treat skin, nail, and hair infections caused by pathogenic bacterial infections [16]. Due to the selective pressure fungi. Although most of them are curable, the mortality involved, the bacteria are prone to develop resistance rate of fungal diseases is similar to tuberculosis [26]. In against antibiotics which is now considered as a major addition, plant pathogenic fungi living in or on plant global health concern [15]. Most of the common tissues have an enormous impact on agriculture that bacterial pathogens have now become resistant to almost imposes a major challenge to overcome [27]. In all classes of antibiotics in empirical use [17]. In response to fungal attack, the plant synthesizes various addition, the discovery of new antibiotics is getting rare. metabolites as a part of their defense mechanism [28]. For instance, only one antibiotic named daptomycin was Table 1 includes a list of antifungal activities by discovered in the last 50 years [18]. Therefore, there is a different parts of M. micrantha. The leaf extracts of M. www.bsmiab.org/jabet Sheam et al., J Adv Biotechnol Exp Ther. 2020; 3(2): 92-101 93 micrantha have an inhibitory effect against the Antiparasitic activities germination of the spore by several fungal species such More than a quarter of the world population is infected as Exserohilum turcicum, Colletotrichum lagenarium, with soil-borne helminths like hookworm and Ascaris Pseudoperonospora cubensis, and Botrytis cinerea [5]. species - several million people are affected by intestinal A study revealed that the presence of glycosides and protozoal diseases, i.e., amebiasis and giardiasis [31,32]. quinones is responsible for the antifungal activity In addition, parasites often cause the death of wildlife as against the Fusarium moniliforme, Fusarium eridiforme, a consequence of the altered behavior of their hosts [33]. Fusarium proliferatum, and Sclerotium rolfsii [29]. For centuries, natural derivatives have been used for the Quinone targets the cell-wall polypeptides, membrane- treatment of parasitic diseases. Both in vivo and in vitro bound enzymes leading to the inactivation of protein experiments suggest